European passenger car registrations rose 4.5% in November, marking the third consecutive month of growth this year, thanks to robust demand in Germany and France and a rebound in demand for VW, Audi and Porsche.
Registrations rose to 1,210,860 million cars in the countries of the European Union and the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA), statistics published by the European Auto industry association ACEA showed.
Carmakers recovered lost ground from November last year, when registrations were depressed by the introduction of tough anti-emission rules, known as the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).
These new rules forced some brands to re-certify their vehicles.
As a result Volkswagen Group saw registrations of the VW brand jump 9.3%, outpacing rivals Opel/Vauxhall which saw sales fall 22.1% and Peugeot, which saw registrations drop 1.2% in the same period.
November registrations of Renault branded cars were up 11.3% with Fiat registrations increasing by 3.1%, ACEA statistics showed.
Among the premium brands, demand for Audi increased by 39.4% and Porsche’s new registrations jumped 282.9%, ACEA said.
A 9.7% overall rise in Germany and an 0.7% increase in France helped to outweigh a 1.3% drop in registrations in Britain, ACEA statistics showed.
